ONE Championship’s Vitor Belfort calls for Chris Jericho cross-promotional clash with AEW
- ‘I think it’s time for Tony Khan to give me Jericho, I can whip Jericho’s butt,’ says Belfort after ONE announces TNT deal
- MMA legend not interested in ONE heavyweight title run, only ‘legendary fights’ that will ‘shake the market’
The possibilities for cross promotion seem endless after ONE Championship announced last week it will premiere a new series of events following All Elite Wrestling on prime time US television network TNT.
AEW has forged a significant audience on Wednesday nights with it’s signature Dynamite weekly show, and will now lead in to the Asian martial arts organisation’s ONE on TNT episodes – starting with April 7’s huge card featuring the legendary Demetrious Johnson and Eddie Alvarez.
The significance of the deal hasn’t been lost on “The Phenom” Vitor Belfort (26-14, one no contest), who thinks he’s the perfect man to cross the divide between the two organisations and make a splash with a fight against professional wrestling icon Chris Jericho.
“With myself being with ONE, and on the same network, I think it’s time for [AEW CEO] Tony Khan to give me Jericho, and I can whip Jericho’s butt. We can really make that fight happen,” 43-year-old Brazilian Belfort told SCMP MMA.
“I think this is what the audience wants, we can draw a lot of audience for AEW and ONE. It’s time to cross promote and bring these two together. ONE has a lot of top athletes, including myself, and we can make some big fights in both.